ACLU Christmas Card Email

I was forwarded an email message stating that it would be a great prank to
send Christmas cards to the ACLU (you can read the bulk of
the message online). It seems that the "Christians" are pissed about
the godless atheists down at the ACLU are making an attempt to "systematically
expunge the terms, definitions, and in many cases the symbols of the holiday
from municipalities to school districts."

Uh, yeah, that is what is known as separation of church and state and is
the bedrock of our secular society and in the American Constitution. This
is what the Founding Fathers wanted. In fact, it was Thomas Jefferson who
coined the term when he wrote:

I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American
< people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting
an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,
thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.

But these Christians change their motives for sending holiday cards to the ACLU
to gratitude, for it seems that the ACLU seems to be the only political group
fighting for religious expression in this country. That's right, they are really
on your side.

Step back and think for a moment about why Jefferson and the other boys wanted
such a separation between "church and state". Before that time, Each European
country had their own state-sponsored religion. If you didn't follow "those laws"
you could either leave or burn. It was especially problematic when the king
changed religions, for his subjects had to follow suit… regardless of personal
convictions.

Our beloved Pilgrims fled the religious intolerance of Europe and came to a
better land… only to immediately start their own version of intolerance and
burnings.

I know, it is only a nativity scene that you want to display down at the court
house to be a reminder of what Christians stand for. Innocuous? Perhaps, but
it appears that the current Christian leader of American is a torturist, and
it has been the ACLU that is rooting out such immoral behavior.
But let's pretend that war and torture isn't really what Christians stand for.

First, there are the practical concerns of taxing the local population to
pay for the decoration and the electricity and whatnot. Second, there are the
many subtle messages that are given… for instance, is the Jesus black or
white? He probably won't be the brown color that the original Jesus sported.
Oh yeah, there is the 3rd Wise Man… the token Black Man.

Christians are famous for their fighting over tiny infractions of their favorite
doctrines. Sprinklin' baptisms vs. Immersion, anyone? Don't think that putting
religious icons bring out the best in people, for it is those things that
can't be proved that people expel the most hot air and fists.

There is also the message of intolerance shone by religious artifacts in public
places. Will an Atheist or a Muslim get a fair trial at the courthouse sporting
the "Ten Commandments"?

But the biggest problem with introducing religious icons on our government
and public school grounds is the slippery slope factor. It starts with a
few religious displays and little-by-little, step-by-step, it turns into a
state-sponsored religion where the government forbids
your personal version of Christianity.

In a democratic society, the majority dictates the rules, however, in our
society, we want the minority to have rights and not be trampled on by the
whims of the majority. This is why we have the ACLU. This is important to
all of us since each of us may find that we are in the minority in some
subject.

So go ahead and send the ACLU your Christmas Card, but include a check while
you're at it.
God bless the American Civil Liberties Union for the good job they are doing.